Aikido - the organizational context

Chapter 19

As the NCAF was the single Hombu recognized organization and the IAF member, it tried to live up to its responsibilities. Since there was no job-description it tried to define its role based on the three lines I have described:
– what followed from the Hombu regulations
– what followed from membership of the IAF
– what followed from government policy

However, as more and more groups left the NCAF, for different reasons* we realized that we could hardly claim to be the single representative for Aikido in the Netherlands. However, the remaining dojos were actually strongly committed to being a decent democratic organization. So, the NCAF tried to remain open, cooperating, exchanging information with the other organizations, providing information on international policy, developments in Hombu policy, etc

To express that we no longer claimed the pivotal role, the name of the organization was informally changed. We started using the name Festina Lente, rather than NCAF.

As the majority of Aikido organizations moved to the FOG, the contours for an umbrella organization took shape. With the ever increasing number of organizations it became more and more apparent to everybody that some form of structure was needed. As slowly the concept of the umbrella organization took shape.

During that period in time Hombu changed its policy from informal recognition to multiple recognition. As we struggled to find solutions for the informal recognition we were now confronted with all organizations being recognized. This in fact went so far that organizations that until then had claimed they were not Aikikai now could apply for Hombu dan-grades and get them awarded**.

The spectrum of organizations was so broad, that it deserves credit that an umbrella organization was formed. However, part of that solution needed to be to safeguard the IAF membership. This was done in several steps.

First of all, as AN was formed, a section for Aikikai-organizations was established. The second step was that the NAF/Festina Lente was asked to create a new organization Festina Lente and apply for Hombu recognition***. The NAF was then offered as an empty body to all the Aikikai-organizations that were in the new umbrella AN. The NAF was appointed institutional member of AN****.

These steps all worked well for parties involved. The ministry of sport and the NSF were happy, the Aikikai-organizations were happy they were now on equal footing, the other Aikido-organizations were now happy they were under a recognized umbrella. The IAF was happy because the NAF was still only an Aikikai organization. Hombu was happy because the complex situation in the Netherlands was now resolved.

And this summarizes the transition period. What should follow is a description of the current situation. Which will be the next chapter.

* I will try to summarize the splits in a later chapter, but this will be a sensitive topic
** this is one of the reasons why AN initially had in its regulations that if an organization applies for Aikikai-grades it is considered Aikikai. Later this was rephrased and that it must have the right to conduct Aikikai gradings to be member of the Aikikai section. This section structure was later abandoned, but traces are probably still to be found in the statutes of AN.
*** Contrary to Hombu policy that an organization must exist for at least 5 years, the newly formed association was given recognition immediately.
**** Until today nobody has any idea what that actually implies.

Chapter 18

In chapter 8 I described how the formation of an umbrella organization for all Aikido in the Netherlands (AN) posed a problem, because of the complex interrelated issues of Hombu recognition and IAF membership. In essence:
– to be Hombu recognized the organization must do Aikikai Aikido (and certainly not competitive forms of Aikido)
– the get national recognition the organization must be member of an international organization and organize all the Aikido in the country
– to be member of the IAF the organization needs Hombu recognition

I further described the history of the NAF: how a Budo federation was divided into three different organizations for Karate, Taekwondo and Judo, and how a federation for Eastern Martial Arts (FOG) was established.

I explained how a government committee proposed that Aikido should be member of the FOG and how the conflict between the Judo-instructors doing Aikido and the Aikido-instructors led to conflict and incidents unbecoming.

In this chapter I will try to describe how the umbrella organization NAF was established and what it has become over time.

As the BBN was dissolved and a committee advised the formation of the FOG, the people that wanted an Aikido organization in its own right set out and created an association called the NCAB. This organization applied for membership of the FOG and was given that under the condition it would change its name from ‘Bond’ or union to ‘Federation’ to stress the democratic nature of the organization.

At that point in time this was the only national organization for Aikido. This was not undisputed, because the JBN claimed that they were the continuation of the BBN and that therefore they should take on the recognition by Hombu and the IAF membership. While still before my time, I know only from the stories told that the IAF decided to make the NCAF member and that Hombu decided to recognize the NCAF.

But just like many other early organizations the NCAF was struggling to find its role. The Hombu regulations at the time still spoke of a strong position for a man in charge, and his dan-rank. Therefore the NCAF asked Kanetsuka Sensei to become technical director. At approximately the same time Fujita Sensei was asked to become technical supervisor. Both instructors took their role very seriously and the NCAF slowly developed under their technical guidance.

They however had little influence on the organizational development. The NCAF and the JBN both strived for the samel goals: technical develpment, recognition as an Aikido organization, gradings, an instructors course.

For the NCAF this cocktail led to initiatives such as developing an instructors course and striving for government recognition. But the JBN strived for the same thing. And the ministry of Sport insisted on cooperation which the officials at the time could not make happen.
The NCAF also strived for events that would give it recognition: participation in the World Games in Karlsruhe in Germany, hosting the Aikido demonstrations at the World Games in the Hague, participation in the EAF and the IAF, organizing seminars.

The political climate was nasty. The conflict between the NCAF and the JBN was harsh, but a new organization presented itself: the ARN. These Aikidoka were not Hombu recognized, but did work with highly respected instructors. They presented themselves as a non-political alternative. But under the one recognition per country regime from Hombu and the one organization per country regime of the IAF they were not really connected to organized sport.

Their appearence did however open the door for other organizations to get started. New instructors quite quickly found out that if you had a relationship with a Japanese instructor you could exist very well outside the recognized structure. Gradings could be handled informally through the organization of the Japanese instructor. Hombu appeared to turn a blind eye to the fact that Dutch students were getting their dangrades through Japanese local dojos.

Once this became public knowledge the number of organizations grew quickly. The government-driven policy of having one organization per country became subverted within a few years, and this process was unstoppable*.

When the conflict between the JBN and the NCAF culminated in the explusion of the NCAF from the FOG, and the NCAF found refuge under an umbrella organization called NCS, all the new organizations joined. They were all in the same situation, and for the first time in probably a decade an atmosphere of cooperation could be noticed. Within the NCS the cooperating Aikido organizations worked on an instructors course, that was eventually realized and with great success. Instructors from all organizations participated, the course was recognized by the government and it was highly appreciated by the participants.

As described, during this time the Aikido-department of the JBN sought reconciliation with the NCAF and the ARN and this worked out well. As described, only when the government started to overturn the structure for umbrella organizations for sport in the Netherlands, did things get off track again.

The FOG allowed one disgruntled organization under its wings. The NSF supported this organization in starting a process to establish a next umbrella organization. When the NCS epxressed its concern it might cease to exist, a number of groups abandoned ship and joined the FOG.

But what did this all imply for the NCAF? That’s the content of the next chapter.

* This did not only happen in the Netherlands, but all around the world

Chapter 17

The other day a friend replied to my post. It reminded me that I want to share some of the old politics that actually weren’t so nice. But at the same time, he was part of the reconciliation that took place afterwards.

In the early days Dutch Martial Arts were all in the BBN, the Budo Federation. However, when this organization was dissolved the Judo Federation did not want to let Aikido leave. Which had some good reason: many Aikido dojos at the time were Judo dojos where the instructor had started Aikido as well. This had often been described as a consequence of how Aikido was introduced in Europe: the Japanese teachers were looking for places where there was some interest in Martial Arts and a basic condition: tatami available. This was the case in the Judo dojos.

In any case, as Aikido developed there were seniors that did Judo as well as Aikido, but there were also seniors doing only Aikido. So, when the BBN was dissolved the only-Aikido instructors strived for a national organization of their own, and established it.

Over time it became clear that some of the people involved at the time ‘rigged the game’. An Aikido-instructor misrepresented the situation during a pivotal election, which was said to have tilted the scale in favour of Aikido. A decade later stories went around that Judo representatives had played a role in expulsion of the Aikido-organization from the Eastern Martial Arts Association (FOG).

Luckily most of those politics took place before my time. But what is relevant to me, is that around 2000 the chairman of the Aikido department of the JBN called me and said the following: ‘It is clear that there are conflicts between the organizations that you and I represent. But since we do not know each other, and we have never done anything to justify there is a conflict, shouldn’t we meet and see if we can improve the situation?’. I could only agree with his view, and was pleasantly surprized by the contact we established. Over the course of a couple of years we managed to establish a working relationship between both organizations, friendly relationships between instructors, admission of members to each others seminars. At a certain point I went to a meeting of the JBN to apologize for any misdoings by the organization I was chairman of in the past. We have been friends ever since.

When the shift in the political landscape took place*, we even arranged in a very cordially manner that we would let the Judo people take care of their situation first, and then arrange for Aikido to follow suit. There was a strong intention to come to a solution where we would form one organization, hopefully directly under the Dutch Sport Council.

Unfortunately, as described before, this process was derailed by a similar initiative**. This initiative over time led to the formation of Aikido Netherlands. However, the close cooperation between the Aikidoka of the Judo Federation and the NAF suffered as a consequence. We are still waiting for the time when that cooperation can be established again.

* government intervention to reorganize the umbrella organizations such as NSF and NCS
** formation of AN under the FOG

! out of respect for people involved no names have been mentioned.

Chapter 3

In Dutch society there was a concept called ‘verzuiling’, which roughly should be translated to ‘creating columns’. This categorization was everywhere in society: in politics and religion, in schools, in television, and in sport.
However, as this traditional segmentation disappeared, the need for segregated schools, television and in its wake sport disappeared.
Cateegorized organizations for sport led to there being catholic socces, protestant soccer, liberal soccer, etc. Each of these sports were organized under categorized umbrella organizations NSF, NKS, NCS.
Around 1992 the NCAF joined the NCS. As described, the Aikido-department grew and large numbers of Aikidoka were organized there. However, around 2000 problems arise (*). One of the new organizations is unhappy with its position and leaves the NCS.
Despite this going against the statutes of the FOG and the government advise for the structure of Martial Arts, this organization is allowed as member of the FOG.

Between 2000 and 2005 the Dutch government addresses the categorization of sport and indicates it will no longer accept different organizations for sport. There should be one organization for each sport, and it is left to the umbrella organizations to resolve the solution for this policy. The NCS, NSF and JBN sit down at the table to discuss how this should be resolved for Judo and Aikido. However, the discussions about Judo are so complex that these negotiations never come around to discussing Aikido. In fact this drags on for several years, and around 2004 the NCS informed Aikido that they may well be dismantled altogether. This information tips the balance for a large number of Aikido organizations. They quickly abandon ship and cross over to the FOG, who accepts them as members, despite the policy and statutes that should have prohibited that.

By that time it also becomes apparent that within the FOG discussions with the NSF have started to form a new organization for Aikido in the Netherlands, directly under NSF. Placed before the dilemma – wait for the problems to be sorted out between the NSF, NCS and JBN and participate in a new umbrella organization for Aikido – a pragmatic choice is made for the latter option. As a consequence in 2009 Aikido terminates its membership of the NCS.

This is the milestone that demarks the end of the early history of Aikido in the Netherlands.

In the next blog I will look at the organization of Aikido at the border of national and international organization of sport.

(*) unfortunately the problems at this time already involve the DAF.

Chapter 2

It’s difficult to understand the developments in Dutch Aikido without understanding the structure of Dutch sport. Around 1990 I had a simple image in mind: Dutch government had two top-structures:
– NSF (Dutch Sport Federation) which was the NGO to promote sport in the Netherlands
– NOC which was the national Olympic Committee

The organization was in fact called NOC/NSF at the time, expressing the strong link between the two bodies.

The goal of any government would be to have one organization per sport: for soccer, judo, swimming, karate, etc. So, to be recognized by the government you would need to be somehow recognized by NSF. And since the FOG was affiliated to the NSF, Aikido was recognized as a sport through that membership.

When the FOG evicted Aikido as member, but there was a government report stating that Aikido should be within the FOG, we were briefly lost for direction. However, it turned out that my understanding of the structure was flawed.

A remnant from Dutch post-war politics was something called ‘columns’. The religious parts of society were in a catholic and a protestant column. The socialist and communist political parts of society were in columns of their own. And sport appeared to be structured in the same way. So, beside the NOC/NSF there appeared to exist a catholic sportorganization, a protestant sportorganization and a socialist sportorganization. These columns had lost their meaning in society, but the organizations were still there. And next to NOC/NSF there was an organization called the NCS (Dutch Cultural Sportorganization). They were aimed at the working class and to express that, they had chosed the word Cultural in their name.

The NCAF, that had just been expelled from the FOG was interested in becoming a member of any other organization. The NCS was all too pleased with a new member sport. So, we got off on a good footing. The NCS turned out to be a very pleasant organization, with friendly and supporting staff.
In fact, the formula turned out to be so succesful that an increasing number of Aikido organizations joined it. From being a section by itself, the NCAF was joined by virtually all Aikido organizations except the Aikido-department of the JBN.
And in fact the first recognized instructors course for Aikido was establised within the NCS, in harmonious cooperation between the main participating organizations.

Unfortunately the happy years within the NCS were not to last. The government had other ideas for the world of sport, which we will discuss in the next chapter.

Chapter 1

In 1988 I was asked to join the board of the NCAF: Nederlandse Culturele Aikido Federatie. At that time I was a beginner in Aikido, with no knowledge of Aikido politics whatsoever. My teacher asked me to help him, and so I did.

Over time I found out that the history of the NCAF was based on conflict ridden events, that even today are embarrassing to discuss. Luckily they were before my time.

In essence, the early organizational history of Aikido started with members of an organization called BBN: Budo Bond Nederland. However, the Dutch government asked a committee of wise men (actually called so) and their advise was to abolish BBN and replace it with 4 organizations: Karate, Taekwondo, Judo and FOG (Federatie Oosterse Gevechtsporten / Federation for Eastern Martial Arts). Aikido was to become member of the FOG.

Unfortunately, Aikido was practised by two groups of instructors: Judo-instructors that also did Aikido and a new generation of people that only trained Aikido. The Judo-instructors did not want to leave their strong organization (over 200.000 members), Aikido-instructors did not want to be a splinter group in a huge organization.

Setting aside how it happened, the Aikidoka established an organization that first was called NCAB, and later when it joined the FOG was called NCAF. The NCAF applied for membership of the IAF and obtained that (I believe in 1984).

For a brief moment in time there was only one organization for Aikido (of course there was also Aikido within the Judo-federation JBN, but that wasn’t an independent organization).

This was the situation when I joined the NCAF. And the first political topic I ran into was the recognition of an instructors course. Both the NCAF and the JBN had applied for government recognition for their instructors course. The Ministry of Sport had asked both organizations to reach some form of agreement, which they counldn’t. The file was put in a drawer for at least a decade.

Somewhere around 1990 or 1991 I was asked to become chairman of the NCAF. I found out quickly that being chairman was not going to be easy. All the instructors were my senoirs by at least 10 years, and none felt the urge to listen to my advise. One after the other thought that they could establish their own organization. And within about 10 years at least 5 new organizations were established from within the NCAF (Itokan, AFN, CABN, DAF, Ryushinkan).
But also within the JBN there were groups splitting off. The ARN was established of three different sections, the future ASN was already working separately.
New groups came from outside of the Netherlands, other styles than Aikikai found a foothold: Tomiki Aikido, Yoshinkan Aikido, Yoseikan Aikido. New organizations were founded around European instructors.

All this splitting was put into a new perspective when a political coup was organized within the FOG. Out of the blue the FOG expelled the NCAF as a member because it wasn’t promoting the sport enough. Based on this feeble argument the FOG members however decided to expell Aikido and changed their statutes, such that Aikido could not become a member again.

(end of chapter one)